Andromeda is Strange
by Somethingedgy
Summary: Max has returned to Chloe after her experiences in Jefferson's dark room, but the hand of destiny is not done with her yet. Before she and Chloe are able to reach the safety of the Lighthouse, The time traveler along with her punk companion somehow find themselves thrown centuries into the future and light-years away. Sara Ryder meanwhile is about to discover she has stowaways.
1. Chapter 1

Sara Ryder, the reluctant human pathfinder of the Andromeda Initiative paused mid stroll, her eyes fixed themselves on the door to Liam's private quarters, a secluded storage bay within the cargo bay she was currently standing in. Something wasn't right. She took a step toward the door and put her ear against it, listening intently.

A commotion, unfamiliar voices. _Stowaways_? Sara retrieved a pistol from the small armoury that was the Tempest cargo bay. The M-3 Predator felt natural in her now experienced hands. It wasn't a Carnifex but she could make do with it. As confident as she was in her skill with a firearm she realised the folly of going into a situation like this alone. Sara decided shock and awe tactics may be necessary to neutralise any hostile intention her stowaways may have.

Bringing up her Omni-tool, she called for help. A low, rumbling voice responded to her hail. "You need me for something, kid?" Sara smiled at the elderly Krogan's deep tones.

"Hey, Drax. It looks like we have a stowaway problem. Meet me in Liam's room ASAP."

"Oh this should be fun." Drax responded after a hearty chuckle. "I'll be right there."

* * *

"I swear, I have no Idea." Max pleaded weakly.

"Bullshit!" Chloe shouted, more in exasperation than a rebuttal to her friend. "Come on, Max. Did you go forward in time or something?" Chloe gestured to their new surroundings. "And how come I'm here with you?!"

"The last thing I remember was collapsing on you when we were on our way to the lighthouse." Max explained as she attempted to prop herself up and into a comfortable sitting position. "And then… being here." _At least the storm seems to have disappeared._ She thought to herself upon noticing the lack of ambient thunder and rain crashing against the roof.

Chloe surveyed their surroundings once more and sighed wearily. "Where the fuck are we…."

"I don't know." Max responded. "Looks almost like some kind of space ship."

Chloe allowed herself to laugh. It was the first happy sound Max had heard her make since they had found Jefferson's dark room and discovered Racheal's fate. "You know I probably wouldn't be surprised if that was true, the amount of shit we've witnessed this week…" The punk felt a twinge of guilt on her conscience as she recalled what Max had admitted to her outside the vortex club.

"Hey, sorry I lashed out like that. My selfish ass keeps forgetting what happened to you, what you went through for me. I just hope we haven't gone back to Prescott's bunker."

Max shuddered at the suggestion. Her experiences in the dark room with the psychopath Jefferson were among the many of the past week that she wished she could forget.

"I don't think so, I could hear the rain from the storm when I was… when Jefferson…" _Damn it, Chloe if you knew what happened to me…_

"Max." Chloe attempted her best reassuring tone, but her voice faltered. "You don't need to say anymore. You're safe from him now. And I'm armed."

 _You were armed the last time too._

The room they found themselves in had almost a Star Trek aesthetic. A large window that made up a generous portion of the back wall gave view to what looked like a core of some sort, metal crates littered the room, some of which had been arranged neatly to serve as a table, on top of which was a bottle. The bluenette punk stepped forward and picked it up before giving the open rim a sniff. "Yep, that's beer, too bad it's empty. Interesting bottle design though."

"Eww, Chloe." Max reprimanded.

Chloe had no time for a retort, both teens were startled as a section of the wall, a door, slid open. A young woman in a white utilitarian uniform stepped into the room with a mean looking pistol at the ready. Chloe wasted no time drawing her own weapon, the meek in comparison revolver she had stolen from her step-father.

"Put that relic down, please." The newcomer commanded, her voice more frustrated than concerned.

"Hell no, who the fuck are you coming in here like that aiming a gun at us?"

"Who the fuck are you stowing away on my ship and hiding in my storage bay?!" Sara retorted harshly, allowing her anger to become more apparent. "How the hell did you get in anyway?"

 _If you die on me again, Chloe…_

As if the universe was in tune with Max's thoughts, another newcomer stepped into the room. A very big, armoured, scaly, lizard like newcomer brandishing a gun that would look comical in the hands of a human.

Chloe screamed, she pointed David's revolver at the creature and fired. The Lizard shrugged off the round like it was nothing, and Chloe was promptly executed by Sara. The top of her head erupted like it was a watermelon, showering the room in broken fragments of skull and brain tissue.

Max screamed the punk girl's name as she held her arm out, her vision became a familiar haze as she witnessed time reversing itself, the shattered remnants of Chloe's head came back together like a jigsaw, and the creature backpedalled out of the room.

"-the fuck are you coming-"

The punk was startled as Max threw herself at her with enough force to make the taller girl stumble.

"Chloe, please!" Max begged, her voice choked with tears. "They'll kill you, just drop it! Please!"

The punk gazed into her assailant's tear wracked face for seconds painfully longer than necessary.

"Alright, I'm sorry." The gun was finally lowered before the newcomer stepped forward and seized it for herself.

Max's grip on Chloe tightened as the next newcomer entered the room. To her credit, Chloe did not scream this time. She simply let out a quiet albeit horrified string of curses. "You seeing this too, Max?"

"Yes, please, just don't overreact."

"How do I not overreact to something like this?" The punk hissed back. "This is fucking insane."

The large lizard vocalised at them, as though it was speaking to them. The creature laughed after a short but intense staring contest with the two terrified girls before stomping away to mind its own business.

* * *

"Have to say, the two of you have quads sneaking aboard the Pathfinder's ship like that."

The pair in question offered Drax no response. Instead they elected to simply stay huddled together and stare at him, their faces read a mixture of both awe and terror.

Drax laughed heartily before stomping away from the interaction whilst mumbling something about "Crazy ass exiles".

Feeling as though the pair of stowaways were duly chastised, Sara beckoned them to follow. "Alright, let's get the two of you to the med bay. Then we'll figure out what to do with you." The pathfinder began walking out the door and into the cargo bay proper but stopped and turned around as she realised they weren't following. "Come on, Drax doesn't bite. Not unless I tell him to anyway."

* * *

"Can you stand?"

"Barely."

"Here, hold on to me." Chloe brought the smaller girl's arm around her shoulder and used her own free arm to hoist Max up by the waist and support her in an upright position. She then began to follow the armed and pissed off woman as she was instructed.

"I died again?"

Max nodded her head solemnly in response. "I can't keep doing this, Chloe. But I'll keep you safe until it kills me. I promise." Tears threatened to once again cascade down the fragile time traveller's face, to mix with the blood flowing freely from her nose. "I'll never leave you, never again."

The punk's guilty conscience tugged at her once more. "Max, I don't want you or anyone else to die for me. I've been selfish enough. It's time I gave something back."

"Then let's just… co-operate with them, alright?" Max suggested. "We've been through so much shit over the past week. I'm not eager to add to that."

"Alright." Chloe conceded with a sigh. "I'm not exactly eager to add to our troubles either. But if they try to hurt you…" the punk trailed off, her voice low and laced with venom.

Chloe supported the smaller girl as they walked into the cargo bay, staring in wonder and disbelief at the various contraptions around them. A sleek, white, six-wheeled truck caught the attention of the punk while another strange bipedal reptilian creature caught the attention of Max. It was leaning against the railing of an upper deck, its yellow alien eyes assisted by a visor observed the pair of stowaways as they followed the Pathfinder to their destination.

As the weary time travelers exited the cargo bay, they were greeted by yet another surprise.

"Chloe, look!" Max's eyes lit up at the sight before them. A window on the ceiling played host to a beautiful canopy of stars and nebula. Part of her wished Warren was with them to see it too.

"Shit, looks like you were right about the whole spaceship thing." The punk was conflicted at this revelation. Part of her was almost ecstatic to be very far away from Arcadia Bay. The other part, like Max, was scared and confused.

"This is all so fucking… strange." Max lamented, allowing her frustration at the hands of destiny to show.

"We'll pull through though, together." Chloe reassured as she planted a kiss on the top of the smaller brunette's head.

"Together." Max agreed with a smile. "Like partners in time."


	2. Chapter 2

The Tempest medical bay, despite being congested with four individuals was awkwardly silent. Discounting the hum of the ship as it travelled through the void and the beeping of various advanced medical consoles not a sound was made. The room was sterile and Spartan, the only decoration being a potted plant at the entrance and a wall mounted monitor that gave view to a slideshow of various captivating alien landscapes. It was the type of environment that Maxine Caulfield was less than comfortable with.

Deciding to distract herself from the feelings of discomfort, Max surveyed the room again. Hoping to find something that set her current location apart from Jefferson's dark room, she was disappointed as the first thing she discovered was a stack of file binders in an open storage unit on the wall. The Time traveler began subconsciously rubbing at her wrists, trying desperately to shake the lingering feeling of her duct tape restraints away. She continued scanning the room until she found something comforting.

There was an armed woman eying her suspiciously, a blue skinned alien doctor concentrating on a holographic projection of their bodies…. and Chloe. Chloe was here, alive. Although the future, or whatever concept of it still remained was uncertain, Max's number one priority was safe, sound and sitting on the medical bunk next to her. She finally allowed herself to relax. There were no restraints, no perverted, psychopathic photography teachers jamming needles in her and her best friend was not dead. She breathed a long sigh. Things were far from normal, but at least they were more or less safe.

* * *

The stowaways had barely said a word since arriving at the med bay. This wasn't surprising to Sara Ryder given their position, what was surprising though was their reaction to everything they saw, it was as though everything was utterly alien to them. The doctor, the equipment, even the bunks they sat on. Their reaction to being scanned by Lexi had been particularly amusing. The smaller brunette, Max Caulfield as they had learned after some interrogation, practically Jumped into the taller girl's arms. The later, blue haired one had to be subdued by Sara immediately afterward as she became violent.

 _Seems fitting that they're dressed like a pair of early 21_ _st_ _century delinquents._ Sara thought to herself _. How do they get those clothes out here in Andromeda anyway?_

"Sara, you need to take a look at this." The asari doctor called out to her, her tone was a mix of urgency and disbelief.

Stepping over to the doctor, the pathfinder looked at the results of her scanning. "So, what does it say?" She questioned.

"It's like they just appeared out of thin air, there are no Initiative records for either of them." Lexi explained. "They also have no Omni-tool implants, which explains why they couldn't understand me." She briefly looked over at the pair and then back to Sara.

"Right, no translation software."

"Furthermore they haven't been inoculated against a number of prevalent modern viruses, there is a good chance they could get seriously ill if left like this, I suggest confining them to the medbay and then heading for the nearest clinic."

Sara nodded in acknowledgment. After some contemplation she finally spoke again. "Do you think they could be a danger? Some kind of Kett or Roekaar trap even? This is all very…."

"Improbable?" Lexi offered a word where the pathfinder could not find one. "I'm not saying we shouldn't be suspicious, but I don't see how they could be connected to either group. Their bodies are more or less completely unaltered. They are human, not something grown in a Kett laboratory."

Sara sighed in frustration. "This just leaves us with even more questions and no answers..."

* * *

The blue alien was talking to the white uniformed woman again, although Max could not make heads or tails of the alien's sing-song language, she did make out the word "Sara", which she presumed was the woman's name.

Their captors conversed for a while, the Alien speaking her language and Sara responding in English. Not exactly an ideal situation for eavesdropping, but listening to Sara's half of the conversation gave Max a vague idea of what the two of them were discussing.

Sara eventually finished the conversation and turned her attention back to Max and Chloe.

"Alright, we're heading to Prodromos to get the two of you inoculated and implanted with Omni-tools, then we are going to have a talk, and you're going to give us some answers."

Sara exited the room, leaving both Max and Chloe feeling like chastised children.

Max quickly scooted over to the Chloe on the bunk next to her, an action that drew a suspicious glance from their alien doctor. The punk draped an arm around smaller girl's shoulder and pulled her closer. They waited like this until the doctor finally left and the door hissed shut behind her.

"You know… I think I figured out how we could have stopped that storm." Chloe stated quietly "I was going to tell you when we reached the lighthouse."

Max said nothing but nodded slowly indicating she was listening.

Chloe reached into her breast pocket and pulled a folded polaroid out. Max instantly recognised the photo, a blue butterfly perched atop a metal bucket.

"No… I feel like I took that shot a thousand years ago." The time traveller's voice broke as she realised what Chloe was trying to say. She looked as though the punk had slapped her, she felt even worse.

"You could have used that photo to change everything back to when you took it, all that would have taken was for me to-" Chloe was cut off by a loud sob. Max's face was buried in her shirt.

"Don't say that… I couldn't have traded you. You're my number one priority. You're all that matters to me!"

"I know, you proved that over and over again… even though I didn't deserve it." Chloe felt a surge tears of her own coming. "I was so selfish, not like mom. Look at what she had to give up and live through. She deserved so much more than to be killed by a storm in a fucking diner."

"She didn't deserve to lose you either, Chloe! How do you think she would have gone on after William and then you? How do you think I would have gone on? You're worth so much more to us than that."

Chloe was silent for a moment. "Max, there were so many more people than me in that bay that deserved to live. There's much better friends to have, you would get over me."

Max's crying only intensified. She held Chloe, tighter as if the punk would simply fade away if she let go. "You're wrong, you have no idea what hell I went through to be with you again, and I'd go through it all over again and worse in a heartbeat if I had to! I'm not going to go back and just let you die, scared and alone on some bathroom floor."

"Max…"

"We don't even know for sure if that would stop the storm in the first place, we don't know what it wants. I'm not going to risk you on something we don't even know is a solution."

"Fate wants me to die, Max, look at all the times I've nearly died or actually died in front you. Maybe it's time I accepted my destiny."

"Well I don't!" Max cried out. "Fuck destiny or whatever force of nature gave me these powers just for me to not use them to do anything. I'm not losing you again!"

"What did I do to deserve you, Max…" Chloe trailed off as she pulled the girl into a more comfortable embrace.

* * *

Sara soon found herself sitting at the galley table, she nursed a growing migraine with one hand and a half cooled cup of coffee with the other. The rest of the crew sans Lexi had gathered around to hear about the mysterious stowaways found in Liam's room, an air of both uncertainty and excitement hung over the assembled companions.

"So, I head in to Liam's quarters, pistol at the ready and I'm greeted by two teenagers who look like they just crawled out of the fucking twenty first century."

"Aren't you only a couple of years past being a teenager yourself, Ryder?" Peebee spoke up, her comment drew an amused cackle from Drax. The elderly Krogan leaned against the wall, his stature too bulky to sit at the table with the rest of the crew.

"Shut up." Sara growled back, only half seriously. Her juvenile age was a topic that the rouge asari academic liked to bring up often, much to Sara's chagrin. "Anyway, one of them immediately pulls an old revolver of all things on me, real attitude on this one." The pathfinder reached bellow the table and pulled out the relic for all to see before handing it to Liam. "I assume it's one of yours?" She asked the ex-cop remembering his fondness for vintage technology.

Liam was practically drooling over the old weapon, it took him a moment to process Sara's question. "Wha- mine? Nah It's not mine, what I wouldn't give for one of these though…" He trailed off, once more engrossed in the vintage firearm.

"She must have brought it with her then." Sara shrugged.

"You could certainly fetch a decent price for that, even back in the Milky Way. Collectors like Donovan Hock would pay a fortune for it." It was Vetra who spoke this time, the turian was also enamoured, she leaned over the table, her head supported by her hands.

"Back to the stowaways, just as Drax is about to come in and back me up the other girl gets this horrified look on her face and starts crying." Sara came back the subject on everyone's mind. "She jumps on the one with the gun and begs her to put it down, so she does and I take the gun off her. That's when Drax comes in-" The pathfinder stifled a laugh. "-and I wish someone was recording the whole thing because the look on their faces was just priceless." The galley erupted in laughter. "It was like they'd never seen a Krogan before!" Sara reached up to wipe away a tear from her face.

"I'd very much like to meet these stowaways." Jaal's deep, accented voice came from the other end of the table. "They sound interesting." He reasoned simply.

"Can't do that just yet." Sara denied as she took a swig of her now cold coffee. "The two of them aren't inoculated against a bunch of diseases and they don't have translators or omni-tools. Just another weird thing about them. Lexi recommends taking them to a clinic to fix that as soon as possible. Then hopefully we can get some answers."


End file.
